Until recently (starting this year) we only had anoles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anole) and geckos. I noticed north of here there were larger versions, curly-tailed lizards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curly-tailed_lizards). They look a lot like anoles but have "rougher" skin and are a bit larger - about 1.5 times longer, twice as tall, and much stalkier (larger frames etc..).

You see a lot of them around Orlando (especially during the summer), and they start to thin out around West Pam Beach. The furthest south I've seen them until this year was Delray Beach and Boynton Beach - never in Boca Raton, or Broward county.

Well, now we have them in our yard. Not many, fewer than 5 most likely but it's interesting to see how in 6 years they've migrated from up north to down here. My wife and I started to wonder how long it took them to get here?

I'm not worried about them- they eat a lot of bugs (especially cockroaches / palmetto bugs) and they're interesting to see. the sad part is that they are much larger than anoles and geckos and compete for the same food so we may see a drop in those two. :(

BookstoreEscapee

11-22-2009, 06:19 PM

I remember when I was about 4, we went to Florida with a family friend and her kids (who were a few years older than me) to her parents' house for Christmas. I don't remember much but I do remember my brother (who was 6 or 7) trying to pull a lizard off the outside wall of the house, and freaking out when its tail came off.

Parrothead

11-22-2009, 11:26 PM

Completely o/t, but I saw a bug when I was down in the keys, and I want to know what the hell it was. It looked like a roach, but had two glowing spots on it's back.